Which side of the fence? (Background image by Ariel da Silva Parreira / sxc.hu) FOR more than 50 years, the Barisan Nasional (BN) has used an array of laws and methods to silence dissent and perpetuate its own vision of reality as the only truth. But in recent years, the scenario has changed. The BN [...]

ON paper, the 5,558-vote winning majority of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)’s Dr Mansor Othman during the recently concluded Penanti by-election looks stunning. Indeed, it is more than a two-fold increase of the 2,219-vote majority polled by Mansor’s predecessor, Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, during the March 2008 general election. In fact, at 6,052 votes, Mansor polled 85% [...]

PENANG, 28 May 2009: Independent Nai Khan Ari Nai Keow is the only candidate, out of the four contesting for the Penanti state seat, who will be going to the polls on 31 May. The 41-year-old company manager and former Telok Wang Gerakan Youth chief, will cast his vote in Telok Wang. “I’ll be going [...]

Updated 2.50pm, 27 May 2009 BUKIT MERTAJAM, 27 May 2009: Former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) member Aminah Abdullah claims she quit the party and resorted to exposing its wrongdoings to the media because her complaints about abuses in the party leadership were ignored. The former PKR Penang Wanita chief, who is now standing as an [...]

PENANG, 25 May 2009: Mohd Saberi Othman has filed a police report over the rejection of his nomination papers for the by-election for the Penanti state seat by the Election Commission (EC) on 23 May. State Deputy Police Chief, Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah said Mohd Saberi made the police report at the Kubang Semang [...]

PENANG, 25 May 2009: Police will stop ‘ceramahs’ (political rallies) which incite and slander others during campaigning for the Penanti by-election. Media relations officer Supt Shaharon Anuar Abdul Latif said this was because parties and candidates should not contravene the conditions in the ceramah permits. “Police will move in and stop ceramahs that incite and [...]